The Performance of Feminine Power and Greek Identity in Felicia Hemans’ “The Bride of the Greek Isle”
When discussing performance within this poem, it directly connects both to Eudora’s actions at the end of the poem and the wedding as a whole. This wedding is set-up like a stage performance, as related to Ancient Greece, which even includes an invocation of the Muses (of a sort) in the first two lines. “Come from the woods with the citron-flowers, / Come with your lyres for the festal hours, / Maids of bright Scio!” (ln. 1-3) The women of the island are being called to the celebration, like how the Muses were traditionally invoked to bless and aid a poet in the telling of the poet’s story.
Then there is the introduction of the performer, Eudora. Interestingly enough, the name Eudora comes from one of the Greek star nymphs. All the star nymphs died from grief after their brother Hyas was killed. Then, they were sent to the stars to become the constellation Hyades, which is why they are called the star nymphs. The connection to the Greek mythology is clearly seen in Hemans’ description of Eudora whose “Jewels flash’d out from her braided hair, / Like starry dews midst the roses there” (lns. 7-8). The jewels twinkle like stars, similar to the way dew drops sparkle on roses. After the description of Eudora, Hemans offers an example of one type of performance – that of a young bride about to be married. Eudora begins to perform the identity of the young bride who does not want to leave her family, similar to Lucile in Corinne, when she cries on her mother’s lap. Both characters question their emotions and their actions, but both go through with their marriage despite the pain that it causes them before they are wed.
The text then begins to like a wedding processional. First, we see her (like the first glance before a bride walks down the aisle), then she gets to speak, then the story moves slowly, through the pain and grief of leaving her family, onto the next avenue, which is her new home. It is exactly like the performance of a wedding ceremony, where the audience sees the bride, she must leave her family, she speaks and voices her vows to her husband, and then she leaves, moving on to her new life. I did find it interesting that the reader does not meet her husband, Ianthis, until after we are see the home, surrounded by the natural elements of the island. However, immediately after we meet the groom, there is a ruckus and the wedding party is attacked. Ianthis dies and Eudora is taken captive.
This brief summary moves to the climax of the poem, when Eudora, sets the ship where she is held on fire because, as the epigraph says “I will not live degraded.” However, more than just not wanting to be enslaved, I would argue that this final scene is Eudora’s performance of her Greek identity as a free woman. As Hemans says, “She hath kindled her funeral pile! / Never might shame on that bright head be, / Her blood was Greek’s, and hath made her free” (lns. 213-15). This is important because it becomes a performance of feminine power as defined by Greek identity. In lines 206-210, Hemans describes her hair being swayed by the flames as she stands on the deck by herself holding the torch, and it is easy to see her standing there, torch in hand, determined to die as the ship sinks because, now, she has regained her power and her Greek identity through overcoming her captures. I would argue that the function of this text is to show the power that one can have in choosing her own death, or anything else for that matter. While the reader does not know if the wedding and marriage was a choice, Eudora clearly chose to set the ship on fire, and through that she found her own power and strength.
As I thought about this point some more, it seemed that Hemans is drawing the connection between feminine power and national identity at the end of the poem. I say this because it's Eudora, not her husband, who is said to have Greek blood and to be owned by the Greek nation, as well, which is seen in the possessive of her "blood was the Greek's" (ln. 215). In addition, the majestic image of her standing on the ship, torch in hand, surrounded by fire, seems to be a performative act that invokes the image or "embodied echo" from a Greek statue or of a Greek god, which I would argue is purposefully done by Hemans to emphasize Eudora's connection to past legacy and inheritance of Greek nationhood.
The Performance of Feminine Power and Greek Identity in Felicia Hemans’ “The Bride of the Greek Isle”
When discussing performance within this poem, it directly connects both to Eudora’s actions at the end of the poem and the wedding as a whole. This wedding is set-up like a stage performance, as related to Ancient Greece, which even includes an invocation of the Muses (of a sort) in the first two lines. “Come from the woods with the citron-flowers, / Come with your lyres for the festal hours, / Maids of bright Scio!” (ln. 1-3) The women of the island are being called to the celebration, like how the Muses were traditionally invoked to bless and aid a poet in the telling of the poet’s story.
Then there is the introduction of the performer, Eudora. Interestingly enough, the name Eudora comes from one of the Greek star nymphs. All the star nymphs died from grief after their brother Hyas was killed. Then, they were sent to the stars to become the constellation Hyades, which is why they are called the star nymphs. The connection to the Greek mythology is clearly seen in Hemans’ description of Eudora whose “Jewels flash’d out from her braided hair, / Like starry dews midst the roses there” (lns. 7-8). The jewels twinkle like stars, similar to the way dew drops sparkle on roses. After the description of Eudora, Hemans offers an example of one type of performance – that of a young bride about to be married. Eudora begins to perform the identity of the young bride who does not want to leave her family, similar to Lucile in Corinne, when she cries on her mother’s lap. Both characters question their emotions and their actions, but both go through with their marriage despite the pain that it causes them before they are wed.
The text then begins to like a wedding processional. First, we see her (like the first glance before a bride walks down the aisle), then she gets to speak, then the story moves slowly, through the pain and grief of leaving her family, onto the next avenue, which is her new home. It is exactly like the performance of a wedding ceremony, where the audience sees the bride, she must leave her family, she speaks and voices her vows to her husband, and then she leaves, moving on to her new life. I did find it interesting that the reader does not meet her husband, Ianthis, until after we are see the home, surrounded by the natural elements of the island. However, immediately after we meet the groom, there is a ruckus and the wedding party is attacked. Ianthis dies and Eudora is taken captive.
This brief summary moves to the climax of the poem, when Eudora, sets the ship where she is held on fire because, as the epigraph says “I will not live degraded.” However, more than just not wanting to be enslaved, I would argue that this final scene is Eudora’s performance of her Greek identity as a free woman. As Hemans says, “She hath kindled her funeral pile! / Never might shame on that bright head be, / Her blood was Greek’s, and hath made her free” (lns. 213-15). This is important because it becomes a performance of feminine power as defined by Greek identity. In lines 206-210, Hemans describes her hair being swayed by the flames as she stands on the deck by herself holding the torch, and it is easy to see her standing there, torch in hand, determined to die as the ship sinks because, now, she has regained her power and her Greek identity through overcoming her captures. I would argue that the function of this text is to show the power that one can have in choosing her own death, or anything else for that matter. While the reader does not know if the wedding and marriage was a choice, Eudora clearly chose to set the ship on fire, and through that she found her own power and strength.
As I thought about this point some more, it seemed that Hemans is drawing the connection between feminine power and national identity at the end of the poem. I say this because it's Eudora, not her husband, who is said to have Greek blood and to be owned by the Greek nation, as well, which is seen in the possessive of her "blood was the Greek's" (ln. 215). In addition, the majestic image of her standing on the ship, torch in hand, surrounded by fire, seems to be a performative act that invokes the image or "embodied echo" from a Greek statue or of a Greek god, which I would argue is purposefully done by Hemans to emphasize Eudora's connection to past legacy and inheritance of Greek nationhood.